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Health System Improves Care With Code Sepsis Program
A large health system in the state of Washington is making a major push to combat sepsis, identifying patients at high risk for sepsis and putting them on antibiotics faster.
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EMTALA, Malpractice Implications for Patients Transferred 100 Miles Away
There are some situations in which hospitals violate EMTALA, or the standard of care, by making unreasonable transfer arrangements that result in untoward outcomes. Potential liability exposure for the transferring hospital makes it important to document that the closer hospitals rejected the transfer and why the benefits of transferring the patient to a particular hospital outweigh the risks.
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Higher Emotional Intelligence Linked to Less Malpractice Litigation
Researchers have found an indirect negative correlation between a physician’s emotional intelligence and litigation risk. One possible explanation: Better communication skills mean happier patients.
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Abnormal Vital Signs Often Found in ED Chart During Malpractice Litigation
If abnormal vital signs are documented clearly, but are unexplained and seemingly unnoticed, it complicates malpractice defense.
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Legal Exposure for ED When Overdose Patients Refuse Care
One concern is that whatever the patient overdosed on, which often is unknown, will outlast the duration of the reversal agent.
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Hospital Sole Defendant in Some ED Malpractice Claims
Hospitals can argue that they are not liable for the emergency physician's negligence because he or she is not an employee. Yet, it is increasingly difficult for hospitals to avoid this “vicarious liability.”
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Vascular Events, Infections Top Misdiagnosed Conditions in ED Malpractice Claims
The lead author of a recent study expounds on high-severity misdiagnosis cases and what those mean for EDs in terms of patient safety and malpractice risk.
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Dementia Update
Dementia is a common and growing problem that is associated with significant caregiver burden and immense cost. A growing focus on disease prevention and management of risk factors in mid-life is vital to attempt to mitigate the daunting impact of this illness on patients, caregivers, and the healthcare system as a whole.
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Enforcement Action Follows Predictable Path, Starts With a Letter
The Office for Civil Rights usually has much less patience and understanding when the covered entity or business associate has not adopted required HIPAA policies and procedures, has not properly trained and retrained its employees (no less often than once per year), failed to conduct required periodic enterprise-wide risk assessments, or failed to investigate and report a breach timely.
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Avoid Most Common HIPAA Violations With Best Practices, Education
HIPAA breaches can happen even to the best prepared healthcare organizations, but knowing the most common failings can improve your chances of staying in the good graces of the Office for Civil Rights.